Understanding the Underground Railroad

MONMOUTH — To understand the history of the Underground Railroad in Monmouth and Galesburg, it necessary to first understand about slavery, said Owen Muelder, director of the Galesburg Colony Underground Railroad Freedom Center at Knox College, who spoke at the Warren County Library Thursday.

By Leanne Moore

Daily Review Atlas

By Leanne Moore

Posted Feb. 20, 2010 at 12:01 AM
Updated Feb 20, 2010 at 7:02 PM

By Leanne Moore

Posted Feb. 20, 2010 at 12:01 AM
Updated Feb 20, 2010 at 7:02 PM

MONMOUTH — To understand the history of the Underground Railroad in Monmouth and Galesburg, it necessary to first understand about slavery, said Owen Muelder, director of the Galesburg Colony Underground Railroad Freedom Center at Knox College, who spoke at the Warren County Library Thursday.

While slavery has been in existence for 6,800 years and started out as the profits from war, modern slavery had its roots in Portugal when Prince Henry the Navigator opened his school of navigation. It was then that Europeans began bringing back slaves from their travels.

Unlike in the Americas, slavery did not become central to the already-saturated European labor market.

"Finding the New World made slavery explode," Muelder said.

When most Americans think of slavery, they think of the antebellum South. Muelder pointed out, however, that slavery was rapidly used in Central and South America, but spread slowly into North America. It began in Georgia in the 1520s and then spread to all 13 colonies, including those in the north. By 1800, however, most slaves were south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Muelder attributes slavery's stronghold in the South to the climate and the production of cotton. Harvesting and manufacturing cotton required much labor and was a huge money-maker for the young United States. By 1850, the total value of slaves and cotton was more than every other kind of wealth in the country.

The invention of the cotton gin, instead of decreasing the amount of slave labor needed, actually increased it; landowners cleared more land, planted more cotton and bought more slaves.

That is why the abolitionist were considered to be such troublemakers, Muelder said — they were toying with the country's source of wealth.

For the most part, abolitionists came out of churches (primarily the Quakers, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Unitarians and to some extent the Methodists and Baptists) and the Enlightenment movement.

George Washington Gale, the founder of both Galesburg and Knox College, was instrumental in the Second Great Awakening, an evangelical movement of the time, which helped to lay the groundwork for the idea of the Underground Railroad.

Muelder emphasized that those on the Underground Railroad not only believed that slavery was wrong but were willing to put themselves on the line by breaking the law.

Though northern states did not rely heavily on slavery, there were laws stripping blacks of their civil rights so that anyone who found a fugitive slave was required by law to return him or her to the owner.

"It took real courage to be part of the Underground Railroad," Muelder said.

Because of Gale and his followers, Galesburg and Knox College became an anchor of the Underground Railroad.

That name, Muelder said, came in part from the actual railroads, which at that time were changing the face of the country. "Underground" came from a story made famous through newspaper accounts of the runaway slave Tice Davids. The account tells that Davids had reached the Ohio River after being tracked. Though the trackers were using dogs, Davids disappeared "as if he went underground."

Page 2 of 2 - Muelder said there were four basic routes through the state of Illinois, most of them running south to north of western Illinois. It was no accident that this generally coincides with the route of the Mississippi River.

Because most slaves traveled at night, they had two ways of knowing if they were headed in the right direction. One was to follow the north star, and the other was to go against the current of the rivers. Because Galesburg is between the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, it was at an excellent location for an Underground Railroad route.

Muelder mentioned a unique aspect of the Galesburg area that made it especially helpful for fugitive slaves: the prairie grass, which could get up to seven feet tall, provided hiding places.

Monmouth, Galesburg, LaHarpe, Macomb and Princeton were on the Quincy Line, named for where that section of the Underground Railroad began. Galesburg and Princeton were the most important stops along the way.

Muelder concluded his talk with a warning to the audience, saying "there's more slavery in the world today than there was then," and telling listeners there is still room for the anti-slavery movement today.

Susan Twomey, director of the Buchanan Center of the Arts, said she wanted to include the topic of the Underground Railroad as a part of the Journey Stories exhibit in honor of Black History Month.

"Because of Black Laws, (Illinois) wasn't truly free until much later. This portion of our national history is important to be reminded of," she said. "I wanted to focus on the aspect of slaves because that's not the story we usually hear about."

She also said this area's participation in the Underground Railroad was something for local residents to be proud of.

"The people that lived here were sympathetic and made sure right was done," she said.